The present invention relates to a screw tightening type connector in which a bolt provided on a connector housing of a male connector is screwed into a nut provided on a fitting hood section of a female connector and is tightened, whereby the male connector is fitted in and retained in the female connector.
FIG. 1 of the attached drawings shows a conventional screw tightening type connector I which has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-13283. As shown in FIG. 1, the screw tightening type connector 1 comprises a male connector 3 and a female connector 9 having a fitting hood section 7 in which a connector housing 5 of the male connector 3 is fitted.
A plurality of terminal accommodating chambers (not shown) are formed in the connector housing 5 of the male connector 3. Female terminal elements (not shown) are accommodated respectively in the terminal accommodating chambers. Moreover, a through bore 17 is formed at a substantially central portion of the connector housing 5 of the male connector 3, along a fitting direction of the connector housing 5 into the fitting hood section 7. A bolt 11 is inserted into the through bore 17 such that a male screw portion 17a is located or positioned adjacent to the fitting hood section 7, at a location within the through bore 17. The bolt 11 is inserted also such that a bolt head 15 serving as a rotational-force imparting section is located adjacent to a location where a plurality of wires are drawn out of the connector housing 5. Further, a wire protecting cover 12 is fixedly mounted by fixing means (not shown) at a location adjacent to a side where the wires 19 of the connector housing 5 are drawn. Thus, a plurality of wires 19 drawn from a location within the terminal accommodating chambers (not shown) in the connector housing 5 are bent substantially perpendicularly.
A plurality of terminal accommodating chambers (not shown) are formed in a housing section 23 which is formed integrally with the fitting hood section 7 of the female connector 9. A plurality of male terminal elements (not shown) are accommodated respectively in the terminal accommodating chambers. The male terminal elements have respective forward end portions thereof which project into the fitting hood section 7. Under a condition that the connector housing 5 of the male connector 3 is fitted in the fitting hood section 7, the forward end portions of the male terminal elements are fitted respectively in the female terminal elements and are electrically connected thereto. Moreover, a support section 25 is provided in projection on a substantially central portion within the fitting hood section 7 of the female connector 9. A nut 13 serving as a female screw body is embedded in the support section 25. An opening 25a in communication with the female threaded portion of the nut 13 is formed in the forward end portion of the support section 25.
Fitting of the male connector 3 into the female connector 9 is executed as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, the connector housing 5 is inserted into the fitting hood section 7. The forward end portion of the bolt 11 serving as a male screw body is inserted into the opening 25a in the support section 25. The bolt head 15 of the bolt 11 and an engaging portion 29 at the forward end of, for example, an impact wrench 27 serving as a jig for imparting the rotational force are engaged with each other. Rotation of the impact wrench 27 imparts the rotational force to the bolt 11 so that the bolt 11 is screwed into the nut 13.
The bolt 11 is further rotated and tightened whereby the connector housing 5 is inserted into a deep portion within the fitting hood section 7 and is fitted therein. Under a condition that the connector housing 5 is perfectly fitted in the fitting hood section 7, the connector housing 5 is perfectly fitted into the fitting hood section 7 and is retained by a tightening or fastening condition between the bolt 11 and the nut 13 as illustrated in FIG. 2B. Thus, the female terminal element and the male terminal element are electrically connected to each other.
However, the screw tightening type connector 1 having no protecting cover has the following problem. That is, since the bolt head 15 of the bolt 11 is located or positioned along the fitting direction (a direction a indicated by the arrow) of the connector housing 5 into the fitting hood section 7, the wires 19 drawn out of the terminal accommodating chambers stand in the way. Thus, tightening operability of the bolt 11 due to the impact wrench 27 is inferior or is deteriorated.
Furthermore, there is the following problem. That is, since the bolt head 15 is positioned adjacent to the location where the wires are drawn out of the connector housing 5, a protective cover 21 for protecting the wires from the impact wrench 27 is required. Thus, a cost of the connector 1 rises.